GIRLS LIKE GIRLS

chapter twenty-five.

   CASS AND STAN LAID SIDE BY
side, not speaking. cass was off in dreamland, thinking about the buzz she felt on her swollen lips, and the fuzzy feeling in her lower stomach from the alcohol. it had been an hour and a half since she arrived at stans, and they had shared many kisses, and the curly haired boy beside her had finally been happy.

stan thought about the feeling of cass' lips on his. he could still faintly taste the strawberry vodka that had been transferred from her lips to his own. he reminisced in the way she had touched and pulled at his curls. he had never let anyone touch his hair before cass. sure, people did it, but he hated it when others touched it.

it didn't feel the same with cass.

"what time 's it?" cass asked after a whole half hour, and stan looked over at his nightstand.

"nine-thirty."

cass felt herself sober up quickly.

"shit!" she groaned. "aunt nat wanted me home two hours ago!" cass stood up, stumbling away from stans bed and towards the door. stan followed like a lost puppy after her.

she stumbled down the stairs and pulled her shoes on. stan watched her the whole time, taking in her disheveled hair and swollen lips. he blushed, and took in a deep breath.

"i'm in love with you!" he blurted, and cass glanced up at him, her eyes widening.

"y-you're what?"

"i'm in love with you. and i know, you love bev. and you're heartbroken, and you're drunk. i also know we're only fourteen, and i barely know what love is. but what i feel for you isn't just a silly crush. i'm in love with you." cass stared at him blankly, then slowly walked towards him. she looked him in the eyes, her blue ones meeting his brown ones, and slowly raised her hand to his face.

"i think thats a terrible mistake," she breathed out, and stan shook his head.

"it's, it's not. loving you will never be a mistake." stan could feel cass' breathe hitting his lips now, and he let out a shakey breath.

"stanny, one day you're going to look back on your first kiss, and you're going to regret it being me. you're going to find a nice girl, and settle down, and have a family, and you'll barely remember the girl who stole your first kiss, and broke your heart for the first time." cass pressed a kiss to his cheek and pulled away. "i'm sorry, stan."

with that cass turned and left, slamming the door behind her. stanley leaned his head against the wall, and let tears drip out of his eyes onto his cheeks. he slowly sunk to the floor, and sobbed. he cried so loud, and for so long.

he cried for so long, that when his parents came home at eleven o' clock, his mom dropped to her knees and begged him to tell her what was wrong. he didn't. instead, he mustered up a lie about being stressed about his bat mitzfah.

he couldn't bare to tell his mother he had had a girl in the house only a few hours before.

AS CASS WALKED HOME, SHE FELT guilt flood her veins. not only for kissing stan drunkenly after breaking up with bev, but for kissing stan at all.

she had passed her hurt onto someone else, and she hated, no, loathed herself for that.

as she walked in the door, she was met with her aunt, her uncle, and danny sitting there, all with tears in their eyes. her aunt sprung up, sobbing.

"oh thank god you're okay!" she sobbed, and danny stared at her, relieved, and confused.

"of course i'm okay, why wouldn't i be?"

"because i told you to be home two hours ago!" natalie frayser pulled cass into a bone crushing hug. "where were you?"

"i went to the park with bev, then i walked around town, then i went to stans. i lost track of time, i'm so sorry," cass explained, and natalie took in cassandras puffy eyes.

"are you high?"

"no, aunt nat. i've just been crying." cass sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "bev, she, she broke up with me. i'm just upset. i needed to clear my head." natalie looked at her sadly, and cass could tell the pity was something more than just 'i'm sorry your girlfriend broke up with you' pity.

"honey... something happened," david frayser explained, standing up and walking over to the two women.

"what- what do you mean?" cass asked, and she felt fear rush through her stomach.

"your mom. she, she got out of jail tonight." cass' face paler at her aunts words.

"w-what? thats impossible, i thought they were high class-"

"we thought so too."

"does that mean shes on the loose?" cass asked fearfully, and her aunt and uncle exchanged another uneasy look. "she stole a car, and while she was driving away from the police officers she drove off a bridge. she couldn't get out. shes dead, cass. she drowned tonight." cass let out a choked sob after her uncle finished speaking and fell to the floor.

"no, no it's not true. she wasn't that stupid," cass muttered under her breath. "our lives aren't messy. we aren't messy." her aunt and uncle watched her helplessly, tears slipping down their faces. danny slowly got up, and nodded at his parents as he picked his baby cousin up bridal style and carried her to her bed upstairs. she silently cried into his chest, gripping his t-shirt in her shaking hands.

"shh, honey. i'm right here," danny cooed, setting cass down on her bed and climbing in after her. he pulled the shoes off of her feet and threw them on the ground, before wrapping his arms around her, talking quietly to her until she fell asleep in his arms.

•••

this is a filler. i just wanted to write what comes after her and stan have their little moment thing, but i decided to add this in just to make cass' life shittier than it already was